Method for the rapid production of sets of castings



Feb. 24, 1925. V 1,527,767

M. M. wlLcox METHOD FOR THE RAPID PRODUCTION OF SETS OF CASTINGS Filed May s1. 1924 Patented Feb. 24, 1925.

UNIT/ED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MERRILL M. WILCOX, OF SAGINAW, MICHIGAN.

Application filed May 31,

To all w71 om t may concern Be it known that I, MERRILL M. WILoox, a citizen of the United States, residing at Saginaw, in the county of Saginaw and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods for the Rapid Production of Sets, of Castings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. i

This invention relates to an improved method of producing castings, such as piston rings and other small pieces that are tov be fabricatedfor use in the assembly of machines, as motors for aeroplanes, automobiles and the like.

The objects of my improved method are to simplify and expedite production in order to more rapidly and cheaply produce multiple sets of castings. For example Vmy improved method as applied to the production of engine parts, say cast piston rings, enables me to also produce, without any additionalmolding labor, sets of other parts for the same engine assembly, and to make both setsI of castings at a very fast rate of` prof its top face,

duction and with a minimum of expense;n

In carrying out my method I employ the one-piece flask method of machine-molding and adapt to that method an)A arrangement of patterns that has heretofore been employed only in two-piece flask molding.

y that adaptation I am enabled to accomplish a gr t saving and produce two assembly parts with the same labor heretofore required to produce one part.

By the term one-piece flask I designate 'any flask member, either a ycope or a drag, Which in usual foundry/ jpractice is placed on the platen of a molding machine, filled with sand, rammed and struck off smooth on then lifted from the platen,

bearing in its bottom face the imprints of the group of patterns that are fixed to theY platen.

The one-piece flask is then inverted and placed, mold face up, on a suitable `board or slab. Other like 'molded flasks are stacked upon the first until a series or nest of onepiece flasks is formed, the struck-off face of one mold formin the cover fo'Il the mold vin the next flask be ow. A tree of castings consisting of as many sets or' groups as there are flask members in the stack can' lthus be cope restin 1924. Serial No. 716,977.

made at one pouring through a common gate. J

My method is illustrated in the accom-- Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the rammed copes to bey tacked thereon'.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of a .plu-

on a base ready to receive other rality of copes stacked to form a tree mold.

Fig. t is a side view of a pair of piston rin castings with a spring washer and was 1er-retainer casting therein, the sprues indicated by dotted lines. I

5 is a perspective of a springl washer casting.

Fig. 6 illustrates a spring washer retain: ing casting in its three stages ofmanufacture, plain, bored, and split. As previously indicated, it has been common in two-piece flask practice, that is, whereboth a cope and drag are employed, to enclose a mold for a smaller piece of metal within the mold for a larger piece'.

This is done both to balance the pressure of the molten metal and to heat the sand core from within and thereby prevent too rapid chilling of the enclosing or outer castingl The smaller piece. of metal is usually scrapped, or used for 'some other purpose, such as abrasive chunks for foundry rattlers, but not, so far as I am aware, for the production of` other parts of the same machine assembly. i

With certain modifications I utilize this two-piece flask system, but 4adapt it to the socalled one-piece" flask system, that is, to a plurality of one-piece molds nested sojas to produce a tree casting. As an essentialfea'- ture of my improved method Ipplace within any surrounding casting such as a piston ring blank, another smaller casting which is Vone of the pieces required-in the assembly llO By this me'ans I .produce quantities of parts such as piston rings, and as a byproduct, at the same operation and Without any additional labor cost I make propo`rtionate quantities of other smaller engine parts which heretofore have required expensive machinery and high labor cost.

Referring now -to the drawings, l represents the platen of a molding machine, on Which patterns 2, 2 are secured, and 3, 3 are smaller patterns arranged Within the patterns 2, 2.l 4 is a cope, drag or one-piece ,flask-member and 5 is the vertical core for lthe gate, connected by a horizontal channel core 6 to the patterns 2, 2 and 3, 3 respec- In Fig. 2, 7 indicates the cavities or molds left in the sand When the flask-member 4 is lifted from the patterns on platen 1.

The vertical gate 8, indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4, is formed by the metal poured into the nested flasks shown in Fig. 3.

The outer or surrounding castings, as piston rings 9, preferably enclose spring Washer-castings such as shown in Fig. 5, these Washers being adapted for use on the valve springs of 'the same engines in which the piston rings 2 a're to be used. I may also make in the same manner, retainers 11 for the spring Washers 10. A Washer retainer is shown in Fig. 6 as a conical plug to be later bored as at 12 and split as 13 to form the two-part conical bushing through Which the engine valve stem is assed.

These retainers 13 an the` Washers 10 have both heretofore been produced by separate operations from stamped metal, but in my improved method I obtain them in the desired quantities along with piston rings, as above described, Without any additional labor and no extra cost excepting that of the actual molten iron.

IBy employing this system for making small parts of a given machine, namely, molding them Within lother surrounding parts, and adapting that method to a system of one-piece molds 'that can be nested as described I rapidly and vaccurately produce tree-castings made up of quantities of parts such as piston rings, and simultaney ously produce corresponding quantities of other parts for the same machine as byproducts,'and it isin this adaptation that my invention has its great value as a method for the rapid and cheapproduction of sets of engine parts.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to sec-ure. by Letters Patent is:

1. The herein described method for the economical and rapid production of machine-part castings which consists in forming in a face of a one-piece flask a plurality of connectedmolds, some of said molds formed from patterns for certain parts of said machine and enclosing other molds formed from smaller patterns of other parts of the same machine, `assembling a plurality ofsaid one-p-iece flasks in inverted position to form a stack, and filling said molds with metal.

2. The herein-described method for the heconomical and rapid production of castings vin multiple groups from different patterns molded in one-piece flasks, which consists in forming in a face of a one-piece fla-sk a plurality of connected molds, some of said molds formed from certain patterns and enclosing other molds formed from smaller patterns, assembling a plurality of said one-pieceG flasks in inverted position to form a stack, said one-piece flasks connected in series by a common gate, and filling said molds with metal.

In testimony whereof I ax my signature.

MERRILL M. WILCOX. 

